Research Frameworks for SQUABBLES® & the Peace Sign Approach

SQUABBLES® Game Plan for Aggression and the “Peace Sign Approach” contain principles, activities, lessons, methods, pedagogy, and verbiage are rooted in, and built upon the following psychological and sociological frameworks:

Social Learning Theory
The theory that we learn how to be human by observing and imitating others and by being rewarded or punished for our actions (Bandura, 2005).

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
These are tools to help us understand and develop the skills needed to control our emotions, set positive goals, feel and show empathy, create and maintain relationships and make responsible decisions (CASEL, n.d.).

Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)
This is the idea that a child’s attitudes and beliefs, their environment (home, school, playground, or classroom) and their actions are all connected and lead to certain actions throughout their life. SCT suggests that the central element of behavioral change is self-efficacy, or the feeling that one is in control of his or her destiny (Gurung, 2013).

Transtheoretical Model (TTM)
This model teaches us that intervention can be fantastic when it’s the right time and place. For example, during the “pre-contemplation stage,” typically, people don’t know they need to change – in this stage our program shows us that it can actually be easy to prevent aggression without having to be scared of someone wanting revenge (Gurung, 2013).

Health Belief Model (HBM)
This focuses on the good things that happen when aggression is prevented. The model shows us that when children really know that they can prevent hate, then they will be motivated to do the work (Gurung, 2013).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT suggests that our thinking colors our feelings. In other words, it’s not the event that affects our emotions, rather, it is how we think and what we believe about the event that creates the negative feelings (Myers, 2011). The SQUABBLES® Game Plan For Aggression teaches kids to think about aggression differently and change their behavior because they become more aware of their negative thinking.

Resilience Education
Resilience means to have the ability to successfully roll with a situation when it’s hard. When faced with challenges such as bullying, harassment, discrimination, and natural or human-made disasters, children can deal with them head on and come out on top (Masten & Monn, 2015). These skills include positive coping (practical problem solving), buoyancy (positive affect), positive thinking (reframing thought), setting realistic expectations (interpreting situations accurately), and behavioral and emotional control (Adler, Williams, McGurk, Moss & Bliese, 2014).

Resilience can only develop as a child builds inner strengths such as being calm, being self-aware, being able to control emotion, and to showing empathy. Just like math and geography, resilience can be taught, reinforced, and refreshed through social and emotional learning (SEL) techniques. SEL provides the pathway to educate children so they can recognize and control their feelings more easily, manage stress, resolve conflict peacefully and make responsible decisions. In other words, by improving their social-emotional skills, we can provide children with the internal tools they need to overcome challenges like bullying, build secure relationships with others, and excel academically (Oberle, Domitrovich, Meyers & Weissberg, 2016).